CONFIGURING A CONTENT CAPTURE DEVICE FOR ONE OR MORE SERVICE PROVIDERS

• US 20080052026A1
• Filed: 08/23/2006
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Walsh, Richard J., Amidon, Christopher M., Issa, Alfredo C.
• Application Number:
  US11/466,629
• Publication Number:
  US 20080052026A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25833 involving client hardware characteristics, e.g. manufacturer, processing or storage capabilities allocation of resources considering hardware capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5044; allocation of resources considering software capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5055
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/617 Upgrading or updating of programs or applications for camera control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system and method for automatically configuring a content capture device according to a configuration profile for a desired service are provided. In general, the user of the content capture device registers for one or more services. Thereafter, in one embodiment, the user of the content capture device selects one of a desired service prior to content capture. In another embodiment, the desired service is selected based on contextual information obtained by the content capture device. Once the desired service is selected, the content capture device obtains a configuration profile for the desired service. The configuration profile includes required or suggested configurations for the content capture device when capturing content to be distributed to the desired service. The content capture device performs an auto-configuration process based on the configuration profile. Once the content capture device is configured, content captured by the content capture device is distributed to the desired service.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

selecting a desired service from a plurality of services available to a digital content capture device, wherein content captured by the digital content capture device is to be distributed to the desired service; and

configuring the digital content capture device based on a configuration profile for the desired service.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying the plurality of services available to the digital content capture device prior to selecting the desired service.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying the plurality of services comprises sending a query to a configuration server via a network and receiving a response including information identifying the plurality of services from the configuration server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the desired service comprises enabling a user of the digital content capture device to select the desired service from the plurality of services via a user interface of the digital content capture device.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the desired service comprises:

obtaining contextual information at the digital content capture device; and

selecting the desired service from the plurality of services based on the contextual information.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein selecting the desired service from the plurality of services based on the contextual information comprises:

comparing the contextual information to a plurality of rules defining contextual information to service provider mappings for the plurality of services; and

selecting the desired service from the plurality of services based on the comparison of the contextual information to the plurality of rules.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising obtaining the plurality of rules defining the contextual information to service provider mappings from a user of the digital content capture device.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising obtaining the plurality of rules defining the contextual information to service provider mappings from the plurality of services.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising obtaining the plurality of rules defining the contextual information to service provider mappings from at least one other digital content capture device.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein comparing the contextual information to the plurality of rules comprises, for each rule of the plurality of rules:

comparing each condition of the rule to the contextual information; and

generating a score for the rule based on the comparisons of each condition of the rule to the contextual information;

wherein selecting the desired service from the plurality of services comprises selecting the desired service from the plurality of services based on the scores of the plurality of rules.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein selecting the desired service from the plurality of services based on the comparison of the contextual information to the plurality of rules comprises:

recommending at least one of the plurality of services to a user of the digital content capture device based on the comparison of the contextual information to the plurality of rules; and

enabling the user to select the desired service from the at least one of the plurality of services.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein selecting the desired service from the plurality of services based on the comparison of the contextual information to the plurality of rules comprises automatically selecting the desired service from the plurality of services based on the comparison of the contextual information to the plurality of rules.

13. The method of claim 5 wherein obtaining the contextual information comprises obtaining at least one of a group consisting of:

a location of the digital content capture device, a current date, a current time of day, one or more keywords to be used to tag subsequently captured content, information identifying people near the digital content capture device, information identifying objects near the digital content capture device, information obtained via audio analysis and recognition of sounds near the digital content capture device, information obtained via audio analysis and recognition of voices of persons near the digital content capture device, information obtained via image analysis and recognition of persons near the digital content capture device, information obtained via image analysis and recognition of objects near the digital content capture device, information obtained via video analysis and recognition of persons near the digital content capture device, information obtained via video analysis and recognition of objects near the digital content capture device, and trust.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining the configuration profile for the desired service.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein obtaining the configuration profile for the desired service comprises:

sending a request for the configuration profile to an associated configuration server via a network; and

receiving the configuration profile from the configuration server;

wherein the configuration server is an intermediary between the digital content capture device and the plurality of services, and the configuration server obtains the configuration profile from the desired service.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein configuring the digital content capture device comprises automatically configuring the digital content capture device based on the configuration profile.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

capturing content at the digital content capture device; and

providing the captured content to the desired service.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein providing the captured content to the desired service comprises providing the captured content to a configuration server, wherein the configuration server is an intermediary between the digital content capture device and the plurality of services, and the configuration server provides the captured content to the desired service.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein providing the captured content to the desired service comprises providing the captured content directly to the desired service via a network.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

capturing content at the digital content capture device;

processing the captured content based on the configuration profile to provide modified content; and

providing the modified content to the desired service.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein processing the captured content based on the configuration profile comprises processing the captured content at the digital content capture device.

22. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

providing the captured content to a configuration server operating as an intermediary between the digital content capture device and the plurality of services;

wherein processing the captured content based on the configuration profile comprises processing the captured content at the configuration server, and providing the modified content to the desired service comprises providing the modified content from the configuration server to the desired service.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

selecting a plurality of desired services including the desired service from the plurality of services;

obtaining configuration profiles including the configuration profile for the plurality of desired services; and

configuring the digital content capture device based on the configuration profiles for the plurality of desired services.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the configuration profiles comprise non-exclusive configuration parameters and configuring the digital content capture device comprises merging the configuration profiles with respect to the non-exclusive configuration parameters to provide a merged configuration profile and configuring the digital content capture device based on the merged configuration profile.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

capturing content at the digital content capture device;

processing the captured content based on the configuration profiles to provide a version of the captured content for each of the plurality of desired services; and

distributing the versions of the captured content to the plurality of desired services.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the digital content capture device is an image capture device and the configuration profiles comprise exclusive configuration parameters, further wherein configuring the digital content capture device comprises configuring the image capture device to be in a burst mode, the method further comprising:

capturing content at the digital content capture device in a plurality of bursts; and

varying the configurations of the digital content capture device for each of the plurality of bursts based on the configuration profiles to obtain a version of the captured content for each of the plurality of desired services.

27. The method of claim 23 wherein the digital content capture device is an image capture device having a video mode and the configuration profiles comprise exclusive configuration parameters, further wherein configuring the digital content capture device comprises configuring the image capture device to be in the video mode, the method further comprising:

capturing video content at the digital content capture device;

varying the configurations of the digital content capture device while capturing the video content based on the configuration profiles; and

generating images for the plurality of desired services from frames of the video content.

28. The method of clam 1 wherein the configuration profile includes capture configurations and user account information, the user account information providing information related to an account of a user of the digital content capture device with the desired service.

29. A digital content capture device comprising:

a communication interface communicatively coupling the digital content capture device to a network; and

a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to;

select a desired service from a plurality of services available to the digital content capture device, wherein content captured by the digital content capture device is to be distributed to the desired service via the network; and

configure the digital content capture device based on a configuration profile for the desired service.

30. The digital content capture device of claim 29 wherein the control system is further adapted to identify the plurality of services available to the digital content capture device.

31. The digital content capture device of claim 30 wherein, in order to identify the plurality of services, the control system is further adapted to query a configuration server and receive a response from the configuration server including information identifying the plurality of services, the configuration server operating as an intermediary between the digital content capture device and the plurality of services.

32. The digital content capture device of claim 29 wherein, in order to select the desired service, the control system is further adapted to enable a user of the digital content capture device to select the desired service from the plurality of services via a user interface of the digital content capture device.

33. The digital content capture device of claim 29 wherein the control system is further adapted to:

obtain contextual information at the digital content capture device; and

select the desired service from the plurality of services based on the contextual information.

34. The digital content capture device of claim 33 wherein in order to select the desired service, the control system is further adapted to:

recommend at least one of the plurality of services to a user of the digital content capture device based on the contextual information; and

enable the user to select the desired service from the at least one of the plurality of services.

35. The digital content capture device of claim 33 wherein the control system is further adapted to automatically select the desired service from the plurality of services based on the contextual information.

36. The digital content capture device of claim 29 wherein the control system is further adapted to:

capture content at the digital content capture device; and

provide the captured content to the desired service.

37. The digital content capture device of claim 36 wherein the control system is further adapted to provide the captured content to a configuration server, wherein the configuration server operates as an intermediary between the digital content capture device and the plurality of services and provides the captured content to the desired service.

38. The digital content capture device of claim 36 wherein the control system is further adapted to provide the captured content directly to the desired service via the network.

39. The digital content capture device of claim 29 wherein the control system is further adapted to obtain the configuration profile for the desired service.

40. The digital content capture device of claim 39 wherein the control system is further adapted to obtain the configuration profile for the desired service from a configuration server via the network, the configuration server operating as an intermediary between the digital content capture device and the plurality of services and obtaining the configuration profile from the desired service.

41. A system operating as an intermediary between a digital content capture device and a plurality of services comprising:

a communication interface communicatively coupling the system to the digital content capture device and the plurality of services via at least one network; and

a control system adapted to;

receive a request from the digital content capture device for a configuration profile of a desired service from the plurality of services;

obtain the configuration profile from the desired service; and

provide the configuration profile to the digital content capture device, wherein the digital content capture device is configured based on the configuration profile.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein the control system is further adapted to modify the configuration profile based on user preferences of a user of the digital content capture device and provide the modified configuration profile to the digital content capture device.

43. The system of claim 41 wherein the control system is further adapted to receive captured content from the digital content capture device and provide the captured content to the desired service.

44. The system of claim 41 wherein the control system is further adapted to:

receive captured content from the digital content capture device;

process the captured content based on the configuration profile to provide modified content; and

provide the modified content to the desired service.